Sorry, fans of both Harry Potter and The Flash: Tom Felton will not be returning as a regular for season 4 of The CW’s superhero speedster drama. Felton had previously joined the cast in season 3 as forensic scientist Julian Albert and by the end, it looked like he had become a firm member of Team Flash, but unfortunately, it wasn’t to last.
Entertainment Weekly first reported the news and though this is certainly a surprising development, we already did have a hint that Felton would taking a bit of a backseat this year, given that his character was totally absent from the season 4 trailer released last weekend at Comic-Con.
Will Julian be back in a recurring presence, though? Or is this the end for him on The Flash? Well, EW tells us that Felton has not signed on for any further appearances this season. This is in contrast to another Arrowverse star who won’t be a regular this year. Floriana Lima won’t be in every episode of Supergirl season 3 as Alex Danvers’ girlfriend Maggie Sawyer, but we have been promised that she’ll appear in a handful of episodes. The same can’t be said for Julian, however.
If this really is it for Felton on The Flash, then, this a slightly annoying and premature end to what could have been a great character. At the beginning of last season, the sharp-tongued Julian looked like he could fill the role of “team cynic” that Harry Wells left behind when he went back to Earth-2. Unfortunately, his edges were quickly sanded down and he kind of faded into the background. He did develop a romance with Caitlin Snow, however, but that was never fully explored.
At least let’s hope that Julian doesn’t die. After Robbie Raymond and sort of Hunter Zolomon, that would make three for three for Caitlin’s love interests meeting terrible fates. That woman sure does pick ’em.
One way or another, we’ll find out exactly what happens when The Flash returns with its season 4 premiere on Tuesday October 10th on The CW.
